Unlawfully Wedded
by unashamed-shipper
Summary: Natsu has to find a wife before the company party...so why not choose his feisty best friend who has no intention on ever marrying him? Nalu Fluff Week 2016
1. Flowers

"If you really want to get promoted, you've gotta get married," Gray smirked at Natsu while pushing his mug under the coffee maker. "Hell, I was promoted to manager right after Juvia and I got hitched. You just gotta find yourself a woman."

Natsu knew this, of course. It was common knowledge around the office that when one got married, they were promoted to manager right after the office's Christmas bash. Maybe it had something to do with people being a little more stable when they got married. Natsu didn't care much about the way to get the promotion as much as he did the promotion itself, so it worked out. And since the Christmas bash was coming up soon, Natsu had to find himself someone that wouldn't mind becoming his wife.

The one thing he hated the most was Gray. The man seriously couldn't keep his bragging mouth shut about being married. The cooking, the lifestyle, the sex-everything Gray talked about was how awesome Juvia was. Sure, Natsu was happy for the guy at least a little. They had grown up together, and their natural rivalry had made them stick together if not just for the fights.

Natsu had to admit that it made him the tiniest bit jealous. He wanted the cooking, of course, but the idea of having someone to come home to was nice too. And having soft, creamy legs wrapped around his head wasn't too bad either.

Natsu shook his head to clear his dreaming. Maybe this time he really would bother Gray and get himself a wife. After all, Gray had been bothering him about it for the past four months now. It was high time that he got himself someone to snuggle with at night and make love to in the morning.

"Ice Dick, you're about to eat your own words. Because I've already got one."

* * *

"Wait a second. You want me to pretend to be your wife?" Lucy practically shouted at Natsu when he went over to her apartment that night.

"Yeah, Luce! See, here's the thing. You actually put up with my shit and none of the other girls in our group do. So I thought you'd be perfect for it!" Natsu told her with glee as he told her the details of their plan.

"It's funny because you picked the last single girl in our group over the age of twenty to play your wife. What do you expect me to do; cook and clean for you too?" Lucy's voice seethed rage. Her eyes were narrowed, and she was now speaking through her teeth.

None of this seemed to faze Natsu, however. "See? Now you're getting the hang of being a wife!"

"Ugh!" Lucy sighed, running a hand through her hair. Anxious, she twisted her long hair up into a ponytail and then announced she was going to take a short bath.

"No peeking!" she told Natsu firmly as she headed into the bathroom.

"I can't make any promises. You are my wife, after all," Natsu reminded her, and Lucy growled from the other room.

"I am not your wife! I'm not even your fake wife yet, Natsu! Why the hell did you tell Gray of all people that you are married? He knows that it's a lie and he's going to hold it over your head when he figures it out that you're not actually married!" Lucy yelled through the door, and Natsu chuckled. She was so cute when she was angry!

A few moments passed before Natsu heard a bird call outside and saw the trail he always walked on when Lucy took a bath. Usually, she took a little longer than she said she would, and to alleviate some of the waiting time, Natsu would take a brief walk.

'Maybe flowers would make Lucy want to do this for me,' Natsu thought, 'and besides, maybe Lucy would like some flowers.'

"Hey Luce, I'm gonna head out for a while and then I'll be back. See ya!" he called and Lucy grunted in reply. Hopefully she would be over that before he came back...

Natsu took his time meandering through the trail and finding the best flowers for his new 'wife'. She liked flowers, and usually it was something romantic to bring a girl flowers. Natsu knew she liked white, so he plucked some white daisies that he found by the side of the trail he walked on. He also happened upon a few pink blooms while he walked through a forest and selected them. On the way back, he found a small patch of red flowers and picked them as well.

"Luce? I'm back!" he announced as he walked in the door. Natsu grabbed a vase from the cupboard and filled it with water from the sink. The flower stems dipped into the water gracefully as he dropped them into the vase, and he placed the vase on the counter near the stove. Natsu turned to look at Lucy, but froze when he saw her form.

She sat on the couch, dressed in a big t-shirt and sweatpants. Small water droplets hung on her forehead and back of her neck, and her hair was wet. She had taken a shower along with the bath, and when he got closer he could smell her violet perfume lingering on her skin. Natsu's heart beat a little faster in his chest despite him only walking that whole time. What was wrong with him?

"I'm sorry for how I acted, Natsu. I just was so worried that you liked me more than a friend that I was rude. I mean, how weird would that be, right?" Lucy laughed lightly.

As Lucy turned to glance at Natsu, his heart beat even faster. It was in that moment he was suddenly aware she was wearing one of his old t-shirts that he had accidentally left when he had slept on the couch a few times. Blood rushed to his cheeks, and Natsu had to cough to get rid of the rising feeling in his chest.

"Yeah, that would be weird," Natsu coughed, hammering his chest with his fist.

"I have made the decision to be your fake wife for the week. That is, if you will let me," Lucy's expression was light and joking, and she looked as if she was holding back a laugh.

"Yeah, that'll work. Thanks, Luce," Natsu told her with a genuine grin. He could feel that his blush was gone, and his heart rate was slowly returning to normal.

"Great. But first, we'll need to practice being husband and wife before the party," Lucy told him. She lifted herself off the couch and took her hand in hers.

His heart rate skyrocketed when she grasped his hand, and the blush returned tenfold.

"Let's start with holding hands," Lucy smiled at Natsu and he had to look away to ensure that she wouldn't see his blush.

Damn her and her beautiful, feminine ways! If she was going to keep this up, Natsu had no idea how he was going to succeed in being fake married to her for two weeks.

As Lucy smiled like a goddess at him and only him, Natsu prayed to the gods that he would be able to keep his feelings in check as they played house. Maybe the key wasn't succeeding...it was surviving.


	2. Starry Night

Cursed with his newfound affections, Natsu tried to not show emotion around Lucy. If he did, he was bound to find that he was blushing or his heart was racing like a horse. He decided that the only way to get rid of these feelings was to spend as much time with her as possible-not that he was excited about it, of course.

"Where are we going?" Lucy asked the night after he officially asked her to be his 'wife'. Lucy wore a long turquoise sweater and jeggings and boots on her feet. A clip in her hair finished the look. Natsu looked away once again to not be swayed by her charm.

"I thought we'd go look at rings. We gotta make this believable, ya know," Natsu said, turning towards Lucy and grinning with his eyes squinting up in happiness.

"Oh... of course," Lucy said, smoothing her blonde locks and looking down in embarrassment. She never thought that he would actually go through with the plan of having actual rings when he 'popped the question'. And now he was actually going through with it? Lucy's face started to flush. Natsu seemed a bit more dedicated to this than she originally had thought. Not that was a problem, anyway.

They walked in silence for a few moments, quietly watching the sky and holding hands. Lucy's hands were always cold, yet Natsu's were warm. Together they established the perfect temperature, and they hoped it would be like that for quite a while. When they reached the shop, Natsu opened the door for Lucy and bowed.

"After you," he said in a fashion quite unlike the boisterous man Lucy knew. Her cheeks flushed once again, and she giggled.

"Thank you, kind sir," she said with a grin, and she entered the shop.

Jewelry encased in glass stared back at them, and Lucy was drawn to the jewels straight away. She gasped and began pointing at small diamonds imbedded in yellow gold, and the salesman noticed this and came from his chair to greet the pair.

"Hello, my dear. Is there anything you are looking for today?" he asked her in a schmoozing voice.

"Yes. My...husband...and I are looking at some rings. We had a really quick civil ceremony and didn't have time to pick out rings. Isn't that right, Natsu?" Lucy asked her other half with a pointed look.

"Yeah, we were having too much fun during the honeymoon having se-" he started, but a sharp elbow to the ribs stopped his comment.

"Ahem. Yes, we had quite a nice honeymoon. Anyway, we are now looking for wedding rings. What would you suggest?" Lucy coughed and glared at Natsu. She then turned her gaze to the salesman before her.

"Well, for a lovely couple like yourself, I would say that simple settings in yellow gold would be the right choice. Yes, yes," the man stroked his short beard elegantly.

"Perfect! Please lead the way," Lucy said as she grasped her 'spouse's' hand. Natsu's face burned as he realized Lucy's smile looked as brilliant as the diamonds under the sales lights. He looked at her hand clasping his and saw that they fit together like they were made for each other. He kept this little fact to himself, of course.

Lucy searched through several rings before deciding on a simple teardrop diamond in a yellow gold filigree setting. She gasped and cried a little as she tried it on, and Natsu noticed that her fingers looked long and graceful with the wedding band on it. And she looked so enraptured by its simple beauty, and that took Natsu's mind to a place he'd never thought it would go.

Natsu began to think about actual marriage to her in those few moments. His eyes went wide as he concluded that he was thinking of marriage for the first time. It wasn't common at almost thirty for a man not to think of the marriage to someone, and Natsu was somewhat amazed that he was even thinking about it in general. His whole life he had always wanted to be younger. Carefree and full of life is what he wanted to be, and he associated those things with being a child. But...what if he could be himself and have his own life...but with Lucy in it?

'Would that be so bad?' Natsu started to wonder. Of course, he would have to save for a real ring to propose to her for real, and a wedding wasn't exactly cheap either. And kids later on in the future were a handful. And so would be a house and everything else that came with having a family.

Natsu shook his head and gathered his thoughts to bring himself back into the present. It wasn't easy, but he managed to see Lucy and the salesman talking about the ring's insurance plans.

"With a ring like that, I'd say that you would definitely have to get a lifetime plan with it. The plan would cover all of the tipping for the prongs, maintenance of the diamond and gold, and keep everything looking fresh and new even when you're much older," he told her with a smile. Lucy looked hesitant, her hand raking through her hair and looking at the diamond ring with her bottom lip between her teeth.

Natsu stepped up next to Lucy. "We'll take it," he told the salesman evenly as to sound as if he was excited but not too excited about buying Lucy her first wedding ring.

"Natsu!" Lucy exclaimed, taken aback. Where was all of this coming from? One moment he was uneasy to go into the shop, and now he was buying a ring for her and a lifetime plan so she could keep it forever? Something had to be up.

"Excellent. And for you?" the bearded salesman asked while straightening his tie.

"I'll take that one right there," Natsu said, pointing at a simple gold band with a tiny diamond in the center.

"Absolutely. And would you like the lifetime plan as well?"

"Of course. After all, this is gonna last a lifetime," Natsu told him, but he stared Lucy straight in the eyes.

Lucy flushed quite intensely and lowered her eyes to the floor. He was really serious about this...

Natsu tried on his ring and saw that it had to be sized. Thankfully the lifetime plan also covered that as well, so the salesman said he would have it sized within the week and that he would see them soon. After they were rung up, Natsu came alongside Lucy and held out his hand for her to hold with a radiant smile.

Lucy beamed back at him, and they walked out of the shop with a lot less money but a lot more happiness in their hearts.

The night was even darker then, and the stars were glittering even more vividly in the blanketed sky. Lucy gasped and gazed upon the stars with wonder, and began telling Natsu which constellations they were.

"And this one's Aquarius, my favorite! She's gorgeous, and she is named 'the water bearer'," Lucy told Natsu, gazing at the sky with wonder.

But Natsu's eyes were not on the sky. He was staring directly at Lucy.

And boy did she ever glow brighter than the stars.


	3. Cuddling

"What the hell do you mean you have a wife? I've never heard of her!" Gray asked Natsu after the Monday morning meeting that went over the news for the week. Laxus, their boss, reminded everyone that the big Christmas bash was on Saturday night. The tall man also prompted everyone that if they wanted to be promoted this year, they would need to bring their new spouses with them. Natsu hid a small smirk to himself when it was announced, excited that he would be promoted once and for all.

"Well, if I told everyone that I had a hot wife, they'd all try to steal her!" Natsu laughed boisterously. Gray wrinkled up his nose. He could barely believe that Natsu had a wife at all, much less a really gorgeous one.

Natsu pulled out a picture of he and Lucy when they went to go get rings. He had taken a selfie of them with their left hands up, and Gray raised his eyebrows when he saw the selfie of them together. Surely that couldn't be his wife, could it?

"She can't be that pretty if she's married to you, fire brain," Gray said before he left to go sit at his desk. A smirk was passed his way, as was a middle finger gesture. Natsu flipped up his middle finger up at his friend rival.

"Asshole," Natsu muttered under his breath and then made his way to his desk to work. Today was going to be a long day.

* * *

Lucy had to admit that Natsu was acting quite strangely lately. He had been blushing more often, and she was worried that he was getting sick. One of the first signs of a fever was blushing cheeks, and so she fixed him some chicken noodle soup that night after they got back from buying their rings.

Gazing down at her bauble, Lucy smiled fondly. It seemed like only a dream to be married, even if it was only fake. She hoped that one day she would get married to someone who had as much dedication to their marriage as Natsu did to their fake one.

"Lucy! I'm home!" Natsu proclaimed, then chuckled. He didn't mean to quote the famous show that she loved, but at least it worked with everything.

"Great! Now we can get on with the practicing," Lucy told her 'husband', grinning.

"What practicing?"

"We have to make this believable like you said. And the only way to do that is act like a normal couple. So we have to make food together, spend time alone, sleep in the same bed, go on double dates..." Lucy trailed off, but Natsu was fixated on the words 'sleep in the same bed'.

Was she absolutely insane?! Did she know what sleeping in the same bed and cuddling did to the male anatomy when it was pressed up against a woman's curvy side?

"Um, Luce, I don't think we can sleep in the same bed," Natsu said, grimacing. He scratched the back of his neck nervously.

"Maybe not that," Lucy said, looking down with a flush. Maybe this practicing thing was a bad idea.

"But I think I'd be up for the rest of it!" Natsu replied, smiling. Walking over to her, he took Lucy's hand and led her over to the couch. "Let's start with cuddling."

Curled up on the couch with Natsu by her side and a few beers downed, Lucy wanted to hug him. He had so much dedication to this part of their 'married' life, and it made her more fond of him by the second.

Lucy wrapped her arms around Natsu's middle, cuddling under his arm until he grasped her shoulders. She glanced up at him with soft eyes, and Natsu blushed harder than he ever had before. With that, her head lolled onto his shoulder and within about five minutes, she was asleep. He didn't dare move from his position.

She was close. Dangerously close.

Natsu's nether regions threatened to bob up, and Natsu pushed her away softly.

"What's wrong, Natsu?" Lucy asked sleepily, rubbing her eyes. Alcohol reeked off of her breath, and Natsu guessed that she had downed a few too many beers.

"Nothin', Luce. I'm just worried that something will happen if you snuggle too close..." Natsu told her hesitantly. What would she do with this information?

"It's okay. We gotta snuggle cause we're married, right? Take me to bed, Natsu," Lucy yawned. Her eyes were half-lidded, and a glow illuminated her face. Natsu's flush grew ever brighter. She still knew what he was saying, obviously.

The grin on her face was still dazzling as ever, and Natsu's face felt like it was going to burst into flames soon if he didn't do something about his problem.

The words "take me to bed, Natsu," rang in his ears, and his eyes darted around as he tried to figure out if there was a chair or a bigger couch to lay her on. Something. Anything!

But there was nothing. The small couch that wouldn't be able to fit her was the only thing in her apartment to lay on besides the bed. And besides, where the hell would he sleep?

"I don't think that's a good..." Natsu started, but Lucy pulled him down to eye level.

"Sleep with me," she told him, and Natsu's eyes widened. She fell into his arms with a thump, and he caught her.

He looked at the bed, and then at her.

What was the trouble with a one-night stand anyway? They were married, even if it was just a fake thing.

He sighed, and then began to kiss his 'wife'. Their kisses became more heated by the second. Slowly he carried her over to the bed and started to kiss her with more fever.

If this was what marriage was like, then Natsu wanted every part of it.


	4. Festival

You guys get an extra long update because it took so long for me to crank out this chapter!

* * *

Natsu opened his eyes groggily, groaning at the bright light shining in his eyes. Instantly he recognized the glorious smell of bacon wafting into his room from the kitchen, and the man jumped out of bed quickly to satisfy his cravings. Today was going to be a good day indeed. He had slept with Lucy last night!

Elation filled his soul as he remembered everything that happened: Lucy had been slightly buzzed but awake enough to know what she was doing, and boy did she ever know how to use her tongue. Natsu smirked to himself in gratification. As he turned the corner, he saw his gorgeous 'spouse' in an apron and cute lamb printed pajamas cooking bacon and waffles.

She turned her head to look at him over her shoulder, and his heart hammered in his chest. She had her hair up in a scrunchie and her smile was like the shining sun of dawn. She looked stunning this morning, and she didn't have an inch of makeup on. Usually he liked a bit of makeup on her to define her already gorgeous features, but this morning it didn't matter if she wore a full face of the stuff or none at all. She would be alluring no matter what.

"Good Morning, Natsu," Lucy greeted, and Natsu stared at the back of her head as she turned towards the crackling bacon once more. The morning after flush that had been there since he awaked deepened so that he could feel it burning on his cheeks. The back of his neck suddenly felt itchy as the nervousness of what today would be like crept its way through his chest. What if she didn't like last night?

"Hey. Didja sleep well, Luce?" Natsu asked. He sauntered up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, hugging her from behind.

"Mm. The best," Lucy said with a slight seductive edge to her voice, and Natsu had to think of Erza chopping him up into bits to not get hard again. She was just so tempting... and so was the thought of possibly being as naughty as they were last night again. Natsu bit down on his tongue, drawing blood with his sharp teeth. Damn, why did she have to be so lovely?

"Good. Cause I'm takin' you on a date today!" Natsu said, letting go of her waist and crossing his arms over his chest comfortably. Lucy almost dropped her tongs she was holding to pass the bacon onto a plate, and she set it down before looking at Natsu in awe.

"Really? Do you think that's a good idea?" Lucy said, looking down. Her energy seemed darker to him now than it was when he first woke up. Her feet were pointed the opposite direction of where he was standing, and Lucy grasped a finger with her other hand and pulled on it nervously. Something was definitely up.

"Whaddaya mean?"

"Well, we're not a real couple yet. Do we really have to have other people thinking that?" Lucy glanced up at him through her thick lashes, and Natsu drew more blood from his tongue as to not blush.

"We've gotta go to the Christmas party in a few days. Why not keep this up for a little while longer?" Natsu pointed out, grinning at her with his sharp teeth.

"That's not my point, Natsu. My point is what if they find out that we're not a couple? Then you'd be taken from your promotion and you might get fired," Lucy told him, her eyes downcast once more.

"As long as they think that we're a real married couple, then the promotion should stay. Besides, all you hafta do is meet Gray and Laxus and then I'll get promoted at the Christmas party. After that, I just gotta say that we got a divorce and we go our separate ways."

Lucy thought for a moment on this proposition. She hadn't known that she would have to meet anyone before the Christmas party...

But for Natsu, Lucy thought, it was worth it. She was his best friend, and now she wasn't sure what they were. They had slept together, and that would make any relationship awkward even if they weren't dating. And they weren't, and they would never be.

"Okay, I'll meet Gray and Laxus, but after this Christmas party, I'm going to be done. We have to part ways after that," Lucy said with a lift in her voice.

'My heart can't take much more of this,' an intrusive thought groveled it's way into her brain, and Lucy fought off a blush.

"Great! By the way, both of them will be at the festival going on tonight with their spouses. Freed and Laxus go every year, and Gray is surprising Juvia with a date or somethin'. Ice Dick can be sly when he wants to, I'll give him that," Natsu told Lucy with his nose scrunched up. He and Gray might be friends, but they definitely had different ways of approaching things. While Natsu would rather tell his significant other about the plans that they had, Gray liked to sneak around and tell her at the very last second. Maybe it was because Juvia liked surprises and Lucy wasn't happy when something was sprung on her at the last second.

Unfortunately, this being surprise being sprung on Lucy stressed her out. "A festival? But I don't have a yukata!" Lucy exclaimed, eyebrows furrowed in urgency.

"That's okay! We'll go buy one!" Natsu said, finally expressing his blush. Lucy was going to look so cute in her yukata...

"Only if you buy it for me. I barely have enough money for rent this month," Lucy responded. She knew it was kind of a jerk move, but she knew Natsu would understand.

"I'll buy it for ya, Luce! C'mon, we're going to be late if we don't get hurrying!" Natsu grabbed her hand, but Lucy pulled him back.

"Aren't you forgetting something, Natsu?" Lucy asked, motioning with her eyes to the bacon.

"Almost forgot about that..." Natsu grinned, and Lucy was surprised that he almost forgot about one of his favorite foods.

While Natsu chowed down on his heaping stack of bacon and waffles, Lucy took a shower and dressed quickly. She added a little mascara and eyeliner to her face to accomplish the look she was going for today: a cute girl who just happened to be the faux wife of someone she admired greatly.

Natsu finished off his food and grabbed Lucy's hand, and they headed out the door to Heart Kreuz to find a yukata. On the way there, Natsu picked up some more flowers to put in Lucy's hair for the night.

"Welcome to Heart Kreuz. Is there anything I can help both of you find?" the sales clerk smiled as they walked in.

"Yes, I want to find a yukata for tonight's festival," Lucy explained to the clerk, and she led them over to the section where they would find them.

Lucy picked up a pink one with a yellow sash right away along with a pair of matching sandals. The clerk wrote Lucy's name on the dry-erase door and let Lucy in and told her that if she needed help tying it then she would help. Lucy thanked her and closed the door, only undressing when she knew the door was closed.

"Can I help you find anything for your wife, sir?" the saleswoman asked, and Natsu flushed.

"She's not really my wife, but you can call her that if you want," Natsu said, and the saleswoman spoke her flurry of apologies. Natsu smiled in forgiveness, and the saleswoman calmed down in a moment.

"If I could say something, sir... you two look like an exquisite couple," she told him, and it was now Natsu's turn to flush.

Lucy came out of the fitting room with her yukata tied and Natsu practically swallowed his tongue. The fabric clung to her curves and showed off her generous cleavage, and Lucy looked shy which only made his blush more evident. The sandals also fit her perfectly, and even her feet looked cute.

"What do you think?" Lucy questioned, and Natsu could only reply by opening and closing his mouth like a fish.

"We'll take it," Natsu told the saleswoman once he remembered how to speak again.

"Cool!" the saleswoman said, and Lucy smiled at Natsu in thanks.

Once Lucy changed and they had paid, Lucy grasped the yukata in the bag with glee.

"Thank you, Natsu. I never really got one of these when I was a girl."

"Don't sweat it. Just take it as a thank you for being my wife," Natsu told her, and Lucy grinned up at him.

They enjoyed a short lunch at home with some light cuddling and watched Netflix for a few hours, having fun in each other's company. Natsu was excited to spend even more time with his wife later that day. They practiced holding hands and being close to each other, making sure that they would look like an actual couple.

Finally, it was time to go to the event, and Natsu changed into his blue yukata and sandals and took Lucy's arm to his truck. He had named it Igneel after his favorite stuffed dragon when he was a child, and it was a red vehicle with flames across it.

Lucy and Natsu chatted all the way to the festival about what to say to Gray and Laxus once they made it to the event.

"You gotta act like my wife, so pretend to like me," Natsu told her, and Lucy rolled her eyes.

"You say that like I don't like you at all," Lucy giggled.

Once they reached the site, Natsu held out his hand for Lucy to grasp.

"We made it this far, and this is one of the last steps. So let's do this, Luce!" Natsu smiled to her and turned his head back to the festival.

They stepped inside and purchased some dessert first before eating a dinner of fish and veggies.

"Look! Gray and Juvia are over there," Lucy acknowledged the tall man and his wife coming towards the two. Gray looked a little stressed as Juvia held onto his arm, dressed in a yukata of a copper top and green bottom. She wore a striped hat on her head that was unlike Lucy had ever seen her wear, and Lucy had known Juvia for eight years. Maybe Juvia's style had changed since she and Gray had wed.

"Natsu-kun! Lucy-chan!" Juvia yelled across the way with a hand cupped over her mouth cutely, and Lucy beamed back at the woman. Natsu raised a hand in greeting with a smile, and the pair began to head over to meet their friends.

"Nice seeing you, Fire Butt. This your wife?" Gray greeted Natsu with a firm handshake, and Natsu pounded his coworker on the back as he shook his hand.

"Yeah! This is my wife! Lucy, this is Ice Princess," Natsu let go of Gray's hand and held onto Lucy's. While Gray's hand felt freezing, Lucy's was toasty warm.

"Pleasure to meet you. Juvia talks a lot about you," Lucy said, shaking Gray's hand. "I've never really gotten the chance to meet you, but Juvia and I used to be workout buddies."

"Juvia told me. Nice to meet you too," Gray said as he shook Lucy's hand back.

"Lucy-chan, it's been so long! Why didn't Lucy tell Juvia that Lucy was married to Natsu-san?" Juvia inquired, her head tilted to the side.

"Well, we've only been married for about a month now, so it's still pretty new," Lucy said, looking at Natsu from the corner of her eye. 'Help me with the story,' her gaze implored, but she continued on.

"Where did you two met, then?" Gray asked while shoving his hands in his pocket. Juvia clutched Gray's elbow and he grinned down at her. Juvia blushed in the process. Her Gray-sama smiled at her!

"Well, we met at Fiore University where Natsu studied Chemistry and I studied Journalism," Lucy didn't have to lie for this part of the story. Their story did begin at Fiore University which was dubbed lovingly by the students "FU", and they met in their English class.

"Lucy tutored me in English because I was doing a half-ass job of my paper and she wouldn't let me get away with that," Natsu told them, and Lucy giggled at the memory. Lucy had come up to him and asked what the hell he was doing with all of his prompts. Natsu had replied that he just wrote what he felt like, and Lucy told him that she just had to teach him how to properly plan out a piece. The two had become fast friends ever since, and somehow Lucy stuck around.

"And how did Natsu-san ask Lucy-chan to be his wife?" Juvia queried.

"I asked her at the library we studied at every day. We were on the steps studying and I showed her this book I had been reading. As she was reading the sentences of the story, I got down on one knee like this," Natsu demonstrated by getting down on one knee and smiling up at her. He took the ring that was already on Lucy's left ring finger off and held it between his pointer finger and thumb of his other hand.

Natsu grasped Lucy's left hand with his right. Lucy's flush was darker than it ever had been before, and her eyes were wide. Was he...actually proposing? Oh hell, how was she supposed to react to all of this? The best reaction that Lucy could think of was widening her eyes even more and opening her mouth in shock. It looked like it was mock shock, but it was real. Natsu was proposing to her for real!

"I asked her, 'Luce, you taught me how to write a paper for real. Now we gotta have kids of our own and you can teach them how to read and write papers and do all of that smart stuff. But we gotta get married first, And I've never been good at words... you know that since you edited all of my shitty papers. But Lucy, you're amazing and you're the best woman I have ever known in my life. Will you be my weirdo wife forever?' And then she said-"

"Yes," Lucy squealed, and Natsu leaned forward and pushed the ring onto her ring finger. The wedding rings they had picked out together were now an engagement ring.

Emotions hitting her like a herd of turtles, Lucy gasped and started crying. Natsu had just proposed to her. Her crush that she had harbored for years had finally confessed his feelings to her and proposed marriage.

Juvia rushed over to her friend and started to console her. "What's wrong, Lucy-san?"

People came over and started congratulating the couple, and Lucy cried a little more. A few women surrounded Lucy and asked her what she wanted to do for the wedding, and Lucy didn't know what to say but to just choke out a few ideas that she had.

"Wow, that seemed pretty real. Are you sure you didn't propose just now?" Gray asked, elbowing his coworker in the ribs. The taller man looked skeptical, and he eyed Natsu with a look of confusion.

"What are you talking about?" Natsu sneered at Gray. He took in the scene around him: Lucy crying, Juvia and other women congratulating her, and everyone else at the festival still cheering.

"Wait... you proposed just now? Dude, you told me you were married to her, not engaged!" Gray shouted.

Within seconds, Natsu's realization of what happened in that moment hit him like a semi-truck. The clapping, cheering, and crying was now drowned out by his thoughts and look of horror on his face.

Natsu Dragneel had just proposed to Lucy Heartfilia, his now fiance, who was his fake spouse who was under agreement to be his fake wife so he could get a promotion at work. She also happened to be his crush that he had held onto since they had met in English class seven years ago. He had proposed marriage at a festival, in front of tons of people and his rival and co-worker.

Natsu and Lucy were now engaged to be married. And to top it all off, Gray and Juvia now were in on the secret that Natsu and Lucy weren't actually married.

Oh fuck, he had really screwed up now.


End file.
